Can an entire football squad have a collective case of bipolar disorder? After the Wigan game on Saturday I was understandably depressed (along with just about every Boro fan not perpetually hooked up to a morphine drip) over our blunt attack and our seeming lack of fight.

Coming back home tonight after watching us comfortably dispatch West Ham, I may as well be writing about a different team.

So what changed in the space of four days? Well, the line-up, the formation, the strike force and, of course, the competition. Was it the attacking 4-4-2 team that made the difference, or the mental aspect of playing in the FA Cup instead of the league? The smart answer would be: a bit of both, but let’s analyse it a bit more.

Things really are starting to look grim now. In a week when the unrest of the Boro fans reached a high water mark by lapping against the feet of Steve Gibson himself, the team simply had to get three very winnable points against Wigan on Saturday. They didn’t.

Until recently, it’s been possible to retain the view that we’re simply going through a bad period- a slide that can be arrested. The messages coming out of the team have been positive, the promising start to the season is still in people’s minds and memories of similarly poor spells in the last few seasons remain. In the last week, however, every time I have spoken to a fellow Boro fan, the same barely credulous words are uttered: "We’re going down, aren’t we?" After watching a completely toothless display in what must be dubbed a Must Win Game, it’s hard to disagree.

To borrow a phrase from commentator parlance: would you believe it? Nary two days after I write about Stewart Downing’s troubles in front of goal this season and worry about the effects of his mid-week game for England he pops up with his first goal of the campaign and a man of the match performance to earn Boro a replay in the Cup.

While the form book was ripped up (to use another platitude) both by Downing and by each team, there were a few familiar features to the game. Afonso Alves was as profligate as ever, managing five shots and yet contriving to only test Rob Green with one of them, while the defence never looked quite safe.

The last fifteen minutes were a familiar defensive scramble as we came under sustained pressure after failing to kill the game off, and the inevitable equaliser duly arrived for the Hammers. Still, the bookies had West Ham as safe favourites to win, and a quarter final tie against Everton is now a realistic aim.

First of all, I'd like to say hello to everyone out there reading this column, whether you're a Boro fan, a devoted Soccernet reader or some wandering soul who has chanced across this page whilst browsing the web. Needless to say I'll be enthusiastically recommending it to everyone within hearing (and reading) distance over the next few weeks.

I wasn't sure where to begin with this blog (I'll stop being ostentatious by calling it a "column"), beginning as it did midway through a week that opened with yet another Premiership defeat, was punctuated by Wednesday's England match featuring Stewart Downing and will close with a very interesting FA Cup tie away at West Ham on Saturday. In the end I decided to give a look at all three talking points for my introductory entry and begin the more in-depth discussion of matches and talking points after the West Ham match.